Faithful To The End
Faithful To The End
Exodus 6:9 NKJV So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel, but they did not heed Moses because of anguish of spirit, and cruel bondage.
Faithful But Frustrated
Sometimes a faithful minister of God is ineffective in his ministry of the word. The people just fail to respond in the right way. This can be very frustrating to the ministry. He may feel anger at the people and lash out of them. Such angry outbursts will only make matters worse, because it does not address the cause of the people's resistance.
Another minister may be so sympathetic to the people's plight, that he effectively takes sides with them against God. He softens this message. He coddles the people, like Eli coddled his sons. He understands and excuses their shortcomings and adjusts its theology to accommodate the weakness of its people.
A conscientious minister must do several things.
He must remain faithful to God and to his word.
He must remain compassionate to the people.
He must go to God, (to Whom he is faithful,) on behalf of the people, (towards whom he is compassionate,) and intercede, asking for God's mercy, and for His power to be released for the benefit of God's people. The minister must function as an intercessor.
Moses was perfect for the job. Time and again, when the people disobeyed God, he never compromised. Even when they threatened to stone him, like in Exodus 17:4, he did not relent from telling them the truth. Neither did he cease from praying for them, same as Samuel later did, (see 1 Samuel 12:23.)
Moses interceded, relentlessly for the people. Exodus 34: 9 is a prime example. The people had made and worshiped the golden calf. In anger Moses had broken the two tablets of commandments. God ordered him to make new ones. Then God appeared to him in his glory. This was in response to a request Moses had made earlier (Exodus 33: 18-23.)
Moses requested to see the glory of God and God revealed His glory. In response, Moses fell on his face. He worshiped God, and he interceded for the people. At the best moment in his life, a time when God did for Moses something God had not done for any, something God would not repeat for any other person, Moses seized the moment to pray for the people of God. What a faithful leader.
Exodus 34: 8 & 9 NKJV So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. [9] Then he said, If I have now found grace in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are stiffnecked people, and pardon our iniquity and sin, and take us as your inheritance.
Moses proved what Jesus would later proclaim, “He who is faithful…. is faithful.” Luke 16:10
A true minister must be faithful to God, and also be faithful to the people. Faithful to God, he will never compromise on the word of God, even at great personal risks or losses.
Faithful to the people, he must never stop praying for them. To pray effectively for them, he must not separate himself from them. In Exodus 34:9, Moses included himself in his people's sin, when he said, “Go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people.”
Earlier, in Exodus chapter 32: 32, he put himself in harm's way, (like Jesus actually did.) He did not diminish the seriousness of their sin, but he prayed. “Yet now, if you will forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written.” Wow.
Lord, make me faithful like Moses. Better still, make me faithful like Jesus.
Hebrews 3:1- 2 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. who was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses was faithful in all his house.
Hebrews 3:5-6. And Moses, indeed, was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken of afterward. But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are. If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of hope, firm to the end.
As a minister, my faithfulness must never be determined by the faithfulness of the people to whom I am sent, but only by the faithfulness of Him who sent me.
2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself.
Hebrews 12:3 For consider him, who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself. lest you become weary and discouraged.
